Barclays ditches long-term auditor PwC in favour of KPMG

Barclays has ditched long-term auditor PwC in favour of KPMG, ignoring concerns about the accountancy firm’s role in two recent banking scandals.

The High Street lender, now led by chief executive Antony Jenkins, had been audited by PwC since 1896. KPMG will take over as Barclays’ auditor for the year ending December 31, 2017.

The move follows a ruling by watchdog the Competition and Markets Authority that large companies change their auditors every 10 years.

KPMG audited HBOS during the period while the bank ran up losses which eventually totalled over £25billion. A Parliamentary report on banking standards found that KPMG had signed off on the decision by HBOS to set aside only £370million to cover bad loans.

The company also audited the Co-operative Bank when it ran up losses of over £1.5billion.

The House of Commons Treasury Committee report said that KPMG had ‘failed to uncover the bank’s capital shortfall until it was too late’.